DOJ disputes Donald Trump's claim 9 records seized from Mar-a-Lago personal or privileged

Bart Jansen, USA TODAY
·2 min read
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WASHINGTON – Justice Department lawyers said disputes with Donald Trump about documents seized at Mar-a-Lago involve nine records dealing with clemency, immigration and a military academy, but the former president’s lawyers said the Thursday filing “is not fully accurate.”

The special master reviewing the records, U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie, will determine whether to block the department's access to the records because they are personal or fall under executive privilege.

The disputes edged into territory Dearie warned lawyers on both sides Tuesday to avoid. Department lawyers said Trump claimed two documents were both personal and fell under executive privilege as a government record.

Dearie said Tuesday making both claims for the same document was incongruous because a document couldn't be both a personal and a government record.

“I don’t want to be dealing with nonsense objections or nonsense assertions,” Dearie said.

This image contained in a court filing by the Department of Justice on Aug. 30, 2022, and redacted by in part by the FBI, shows a photo of documents seized during the Aug. 8 search by the FBI of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The Justice Department says it has uncovered efforts to obstruct its investigation into the discovery of classified records at former President Donald Trump's Florida estate.

Dearie is reviewing 21,792 pages of unclassified documents that were seized during an FBI search in August. FBI agents were searching for evidence of criminal violations of the Espionage Act or obstruction of justice.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon appointed Dearie to determine whether the government should be blocked from using any of the documents in its criminal investigation because they are personal or fall under attorney-client privilege or executive privilege.

Six of the nine contested documents deal with clemency requests and were received by Trump in his official capacity to grant pardons, the government said.

Two documents dealt with immigration initiatives and government records because of Trump’s role overseeing immigration policy and border security, according to the government.

And one document is an email from a person at one of the military academies dealing with the school’s sports program, the lawyers said.

One of Trump's lawyers, James Trusty, said they plan to submit their arguments about the documents on Monday.

“Unfortunately, the log submitted by the government is not fully accurate as to the Plaintiff’s position on various documents,” Trusty said in a letter to Dearie.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: DOJ: Trump contests seizure of 9 records from Mar-a-Lago